


Hello, Goodbye

by DreamerFae



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 00:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15473232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamerFae/pseuds/DreamerFae
Summary: Mermaid Touka goes to land for the first time and meets Human Ken.





	Hello, Goodbye

"I want to go to land, father," Touka said, eyes showing strong determination. Her father, Arata rose an eyebrow upon what she'd just said and turned to her, "Why?"

"It seems interesting. I want to experience being a human for once and go to all the amazing places." She answered before pausing. "..Please?"

Arata sighed. He knew how stubborn his daughter was whenever she was stuck on something and nodded to agree. "I don't mind but it comes with a price. Are you willing to take the risk?"

Her father was the Sea God, which meant that he had the authority over all of the ocean citizens; the corals, the fishes, the merfolk consisting of mermaids and mermen. They were the dominant creatures in the whole sea. Creatures like them had a human body for the upper part of their body—which they usually covered with strapless bra tops for the females, and nothing for the males—and fish tails covered in silver and blue scales for the lower part.

"Very well. I shall give you a pair of legs so you can function on land. But Touka, you must remember to return here 1 year later, no matter what because our bodies are not made to survive on land. If we're out for too long, the body will shrivel up and die." He whispered a magic spell and cast it over her. "Go to the surface and your legs will appear when you're nearing land. Lastly, have fun and be safe." Touka kissed her father's cheek as a thank you before swimming upwards for the surface.

Her heart swelled with excitement and she found herself swimming even faster when the moonlight cutting through the water increased and she knew she was almost there. She inhaled a breath of fresh air as soon as her head popped out from the water and looked around.

A sea of deep blue surrounded her and her head tilted up at the bright full moon in the sky that had its rays reflected off the water surface. Her eyes shined at the beautiful sight of the moon so high up in the sky and decided that the real experience was so much better than seeing it from her house underwater, where the water always made the moon look so blurry.

Ducking her head under, she swam towards the shore and felt the slow transformation of her tail to human legs. Touka's heart dropped when she realized she didn't know how to swim using legs and she was drowning. She threw her hands out to find something, anything to hold onto and ended up grabbing a leg.

"Wah!" A male voice shouted and there was a huge splash of water as the male fell into the water.

I'm not ready yet! He thought as he struggled to open his eyes in the ice cold water. As soon as he did, he saw a beautiful woman in front of him, with ocean-blue eyes, long purple wavy hair and..she looked like she was drowning—from the way the bubbles escaped her mouth. His first instinct was to save her first, as he pulled her by the waist and started to swim for the surface.

While using one arm to hold the woman close to him, he used the other to cut through the water and go to the shore. He laid her down on the sand first and felt his heart skip a beat when he saw that her eyes were closed. She's going to die! What am I supposed to do?! As he thought about whether he should run to get help or try to revive her himself, Touka coughed and turned her head to the side to spit out the water she swallowed.

"A-Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

Upon opening her eyes, she saw a man. He had black hair, bangs covering his forehead, a pair of grey eyes, slim nose, and thin lips. Realizing that this was her first human encounter, she shot up and tried to get away from him by using her arms to push her body away from him.

"I-It's okay, I saved you! You were drowning and I just happened to be here—"

"Wait. Why are you here at this time of night? It's 1am you know."

The male froze on the spot and seemed hesitant to tell her as his eyes avoided hers. "..I was trying to drown myself."

"Why? I'm not trying to persuade you to stop trying to kill yourself but drowning is the most painful way to die. The water enters your lungs then you suffer in the cold water until you die. If you want to die, I'd rather you do it some other way which I wouldn't know 'cause I don't wanna die. Just sayin'." Touka shrugged. For some reason, she was extremely talkative around a stranger. "Anyways, thank you for saving me—ACHOO!" She sneezed loudly and her arms flew to wrap around her body, shivering because of the coldness.

The male suddenly burst into laughter, startling her and she stared at him like he was the weirdest creature on the earth. It's been a long time since he was so amused like this. He eventually stopped and removed his jacket to hold it out for her. "My name's Ken Kaneki. You?"

Touka stared at the jacket and took it with thanks. After putting her arms through the sleeves, she zipped it up and instantly felt her body warm. "Kirishima Touka. A question though, why did you laugh? I was just being nice and offered you a less painful solution to dying!" She hissed.

Ken chuckled. "That's because a normal person would have tried to stop me. But you didn't and instead urged me on. Besides, why were you in the ocean at this timing? It's dangerous, with all the different things in there. Like sharks. Furthermore, you looked like you couldn't swim."

Welp. She didn't expect this question but she knew she couldn't let him know she was a mermaid. Who knows what humans will do when they find out mystical creatures exist? They'd probably catch them for fun or to perform experiments.

"Well, I wanted to try dipping in the water to see how it felt like since it's in the middle of the night and all. I don't recommend you try it though, seeing as you wanted to drown yourself." She looked around and sighed when no one else was in sight. The beach was completely empty, except the two of them. "I'm sorry to ask this but could you postpone your suicide attempt and let me stay at your place for tonight? I don't have anywhere to go. I promise I'll leave first thing tomorrow morning."

She'll think about getting the basic necessities like food and money at a later time. For now, she needed to secure a shelter over her head, preferably from this guy who seemed like he wouldn't harm her.

Ken couldn't get the smile off his face. She was very interesting but her long purple hair reminded him of his ex-girlfriend, who broke up with him few hours prior because his novel-writing was preventing him from spending time with her. He decided that putting her up for tonight wouldn't hurt and so agreed. Even though he thought it was weird that she couldn't walk despite having legs, he cast it away as her still being shaken by almost drowning and helped her along the way.

—

It became very obvious to Kaneki that this girl has been living on a completely different planet from theirs, until now. Everything she saw awed her as she stared at every furniture he had; the door, the white walls, the brown floor, his wooden shoe cupboard, his black sofa, his black wall-mounted television, his dining table and chairs, his neat kitchen that was full of kitchen utensils, pots and pans, his clean toilet, the large amount of bookshelves and books he had and his bed.

It's not that they merfolks don't have a house to stay, they do but they don't have most items that humans need. Like the toilet, since they don't use them, shoe shelves as they don't wear shoes, books, and electronics 'cause obviously they can't function in the water and many more.

"I'll get you a set of clothes and—"

This just occurred to him but the only clothes that were covering her body were his jacket and an oversized white t-shirt underneath. He felt his cheeks burn as he forced his eyes away from her and struggled to open his mouth. "..do you happen to have any extra underwear for yourself?"

After staring down at her drenched body and putting 1 and 1 together, Touka flushed. She forgot to pack some clothes because she was too excited to head to land. Even if she did pack, she still wouldn't have proper clothes, as they don't exactly wear the same underwear humans did. One thing she can absolutely confirm that she didn't have was panties. "I-I don't..."

Suddenly, she felt so shy that she started pulling on the hem of the jacket and her shirt to try and cover more of her skin. Ken coughed and reached for a clean set of clothes from his drawers before passing them to her along with a bath towel. "Y-you can bath first. I'll wait outside."

Touka cocked her head to their side and wondered why he didn't say that he'd go in with her. Back in the ocean, she'd always shower with her family and friends. They just apply soap and then swim around in the water to get clean. "We're not showering together?"

It took one second for his whole face to turn red and his voice to turn high-pitched. "What are you talking about?! No, we're not showering together! You'll catch a cold so you'd better go in quick!" He said as he pushed her into the bathroom and closed the door for her. Leaning against the door, he willed for his racing heart to calm down. It's his first time seeing a girl this bold.

A few seconds later, he heard a loud crash come from the bathroom and he rushed inside without caring to knock. "Are you okay?! I heard something loud."

"Yeah.." She answered as she bent down to pick the bottle of shampoo that she dropped.

It was hard to see her since the whole bathroom was filled with hot steam from the water and he squinted his eyes at the figure that seemed to be sitting in the tub. Upon walking closer, he threw his hands to his eyes to cover them. She was half-naked, with half her back exposed to him. "I-I'm so sorry! I'll get out now!"

"Wait! Could you wash me? I don't know how to use these shampoo thingy!"

He's right about to explode with embarrassment when he heard another loud sound and turned to see her attempt to pick the shampoo container from the floor. He sighed and moved to pick it up before putting it back on the rack. Grabbing the towel, he held it out in front of her, face looking like a tomato now. "P-put this on or I won't wash you."

She wrapped the towel around her body and turned her back to him while he sat on a stool behind her. He wets her hair first, pumped some shampoo into his hands and moved it into her long purple hair. As he massaged and scratched her scalp, he can't help but think that her hair was extremely soft despite it being submerged in the sea water earlier on.

"So...what was the cause of you trying to drown yourself just now?" Touka casually asked, voice echoing in the bathroom.

His hands stopped scrubbing her scalp and he looked down. "I...the book I'm writing isn't going well so I'm spending lots of time on it and my girlfriend broke up with me because she got sick of that."

She took some time to process this and started, "You're not sad, you're just lonely. You wanted to kill yourself so you wouldn't be lonely anymore--"

"That's not true."

"It is. From what I heard, I understand that you wanted to die because you were scared no one wanted you—"

"I said stop it!" Kaneki shouted and ran out of the bathroom.

"Hey wait! You're not done washing me yet! Shit."

Touka figured out how to wash herself, quickly did it and threw on the clothes he gave her before running after him to find him squatting in the corner of the bedroom with his head down and hands resting on his knees. As his back was facing her, her heart raced at the thought of accidentally making a grown man cry. She placed a hand on his back. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

It wasn't that he was angry at her. He was angry at himself. As frustrating as it is to admit, this woman knew him better than he knew himself and they've only met for 40 minutes. The words that she said were all true and he was aware of that so he ran away. He's a coward and a coward always runs away from their problems as they don't want to face them. It's just like earlier, he wasn't ready to go further into the ocean because he was scared.

Touka let out an internal sigh when she realized he wasn't crying from the way he was speaking normally. "That's not it. You're right. I'm a coward, Kirishima-San. I turn away from everything I'm afraid and I think that running away can solve all of my problems. The truth is I just wanted someone to love me, to be by my side. I couldn't stand the thought of being alone."

"..then I will stay with you." She mumbled. Her hands flew to cover her mouth and her eyes went wide. How..why would I say that? Do I pity him? I don't know why but I feel like he doesn't deserve to be left alone. But it was too late to realize that she shouldn't have said that to a stranger, and now he's looking at her with equally wide eyes and jaw slightly dropping in surprise. Come on, say something, Touka!

"D-don't get me wrong. I meant I'll stay with you until I find a suitable home and move out. Until then, you're stuck with me."

A small smile graced his face. He should be offended that she's declaring to stay at his place without asking for his permission when they barely even know each other but no. For some reason which he doesn't understand, he felt relieved and happy. She returned the smile and held out her hand for him to grab to stand up. "You should smile more often, you look more handsome that way."

A blush appeared on his cheeks and he faked a cough. He can already tell he'll have lots of problems staying with this woman.

\--

After coming out from the shower, Kaneki walked over to Touka who was sitting on his couch in his bedroom and reading one of his books. "Alright. Let's have some rules if you're going to live here. First, keep the place clean. Second, ask me if you're going to use the kitchen because I don't want you blowing it up. Third, no falling in love."

Touka rolled her eyes. "No falling in love. Really?"

"I..just want to take a break from it. Please."

"Alright, Mr. Suicidal. I have my own rules as well. One, as long as I'm here, you are not allowed to commit suicide here or outside. I don't want to see a dead man hanging from the ceiling when I wake up in the morning or have the police arrest me of being a suspect. Two, we'll take turns cooking. Three,—" she pointed to his bed. "Let's share that."

His eyebrow rose. "What? I'm fine with the first two rules but not the third. And I don't think you should be making rules since you're the one imposing on me."

"We're roommates, of course I need to make rules. Besides, there's nothing wrong with sharing a bed as long as we don't do anything to each other. We keep to our own sides and sleep. That's it. What's wrong with that?"

"Everything's wrong! A man and a woman sharing a bed is so..." He trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence and hoped that she would understand what he was trying to say.

"So what?" She teased him and his cheeks turned pink.

"Y-you know what I mean!"

"I won't do anything and I trust that you won't either."

"...okay whatever." Kaneki's tired eyes fixed on the clock behind her and he walked towards his bed. "I'm going to sleep now. What will you do?"

Watching as he climbed into bed and pulled the covers, Touka's heart started racing and she felt blood rush to her cheeks. The rule about sharing a bed was on a whim and she didn't think that he'd really agree. Come to think of it, this is actually the first time she's going to be so close to a guy and to share a bed with one. She took one step, stopped, another step, looked at him to make sure his back was facing her before she pulled the covers aside to slot herself in. She laid on her back, pulled the blankets up to her nose and stayed there.

It wasn't her intention to smell the blanket. It really wasn't. But she couldn't help it when the blanket was just below her nose. So this was a male's scent. A mix of cologne, a sweet smell of vanilla flowers and almond—which she assumes are the books since he says he writes and read a lot, and she didn't know how to describe it, but there was a hint of scent that she knew only guys had. It smelt..nice and comforting.

His lips quirked in amusement at how she seemed to be boldly sniffing his blanket and couldn't help but smile. "How's the smell?"

In the midst of sniffing, Touka didn't even notice he had turned over to her side and was staring at her with a smile on his stupid face. She was so stunned that her body jerked back and she almost fell to the floor, had he not grabbed her arm and pulled her to his chest by the waist. She panted from the shock and rested her head on his chest.

"Be careful! What if you'd hit your head?!" He scolded as he pushed her back slightly to look at her. His breath hitched when he realized how close they were, from how he could literally feel her breath on his lips and he stared at her face. It was just like that time at the ocean when he first saw her. "Beautiful.."

Kaneki could tell she was also surprised by what he said as her eyes widened and cheeks reddened. He quickly covered his mouth with his hand and turned to the other side so she wouldn't see him blushing. "I'm going to sleep."

"U-uh Okay. Thanks..for saving me. Good night, Kaneki."

The male squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to sleep.

—

The next morning after waking up, Kaneki jolted up in bed and looked around with squinting eyes. It was just a dream, right? I rescued a girl and then told her that she was beautiful—he gasped when he saw the real deal sleeping beside him on the bed and covered his face. This is reality. He got out of bed, headed for the bathroom to wash up and then went to the kitchen to cook 4 sunny sides up eggs—2 for himself, the other 2 for Touka. After he's done eating, he went to his writing room and started working on his book.

One hour later, the female slowly opened her eyes to adjust to the bright light and looked around for him, only to be disappointed that he left the bed without her. She mentally scolded herself, why should she care? But after last night...she wanted to thank him. Pulling the blankets away, she walked around the house and found him in another room, sitting at a table with a laptop in front of him and huge window panes behind him, and 2 large bookshelves on both sides of him. Touka giggled when she realized that he was wearing a pair of round spectacles and guessed that he only uses that when he writes.

Turning on her heel, she made her way to the living room, where she found 2 sunny side eggs on the table, with a note beside it saying that they were for her. She smiled at the kind gesture, gratefully finished the food, washed the dishes and decided to make him some coffee.

Holding the hot cup of coffee in one hand, she knocked on the door and Kaneki looked up at her. Touka walked in and placed the coffee on his table. "This is thanks for the breakfast. It was nice."

"You're welcome. Thank you for the coffee, I really needed it but I didn't want to stop at this part of the story."

"Mm. About last night, uhm, you saying that I was beautiful.." She seemed a little bashful to continue. "Thank you for that too. You're the first person to have told me that. I'm happy."

"Oh, um, I was just being honest. Don't have to thank me for that." Kaneki sipped his coffee and his eyes went wide. "This is delicious. How do you make it? I always make mine but they don't taste as nice as yours."

"I can teach you once you're done writing."

The days went on peacefully with them supporting and helping one another. Though Touka was unaware of many things and rules in the human world, he patiently taught them to her. For Kaneki, whenever he was stuck at a certain part, she would read it and give him some suggestions. This was how they lived their days together as roommates and eventually became good friends.

—

"Heyo Kaneki! Sorry for the loss of your girlfriend but you know what they say about having a sea of fish! You'll definitely find another girl—whoa! I didn't expect you to get another girlfriend so fast!" Hideyoshi Nagachika, Kaneki Ken's only best friend exclaimed, taken aback from the fact that his best friend was sitting on his bed reading a book while a girl with long violet hair was lying on her stomach also reading a book and listening to music.

Kaneki sighed and put down his book. "Don't you ever knock, Hide? And no, she's not my girlfriend. We're roommates."

"Well I did ring the bell before coming in but I know you didn't hear it as usual. So what's this about being roommates?" Hide grinned and patted his shoulder.

The black haired male took the next 10 minutes to explain the whole story and left out the part where he tried to kill himself and smiled when Hide nodded and laughed along the way. "That's the full story but now she's a freeloader and doesn't seem to want to move out or look for a job."

Touka looked up from her magazine and glared at him. "I'm making sure you don't commit suicide when I leave."

Hide's eyes widened at the word and squeezed his best friend's arms. "Suicide?! Kaneki, are you okay? What are you worried about? Share them with me! I'm upset that you don't tell me anything. Even a stranger knows you attempted suicide."

"I'm fine, Hide. For now. She's keeping me on a leash, as you can see."

Hide showed a thumbs-up to Touka, to which she returned one with a smile before he looked at the two of them and grinned. "What's with this comfortable atmosphere?! You guys should just date, Jesus!"

"We have a no relationship rule—"

As usual, the blonde haired male cut him off, turning to Touka. "Do you like him?"

She cocked her head to the side, confused. "Uh yes?"

"Then do you like her, Kaneki?"

"I guess I do?"

"Then date god damn it!" Hide moved to place a hand on Touka's shoulder. "He can be very gloomy sometimes but he's a great guy. Take care of him."

"Okay?" Touka answered, puzzled.

"Hide--" Kaneki whined, wanting for him to stop spouting nonsense to his roommate but the blonde haired male punched his chest and grinned. "You can do it, dude! I gotta run, bye!"

He literally ran out of the house and slammed the main door behind him, leaving the two people in the room feeling awkward as hell. Kaneki brought his hands to cover his face and sighed heavily. "I'm sorry I have a friend like him."

"No, it's okay. He was really nice."

"Mm. He can be quite a busybody sometimes."

"Yeah."

The room was filled with silence once again before Touka broke it. "So... wanna date?"

"Not you too!" He exclaimed.

"There's nothing bad about it. If it doesn't work out, we can always revert back to being friends."

"No."

Kaneki ended up getting convinced to start dating Touka. They agreed for it to be a temporary thing and will break it off if they decide that it isn't working.

A few weeks into 'dating' which consisted of them basically doing the same things they did when they were normal friends, Kaneki has had enough. "Don't you think there's something wrong with our 'dating'? Shouldn't there be more couple-y stuff? All we're doing is read, eat and sleep every day. We don't do anything with or for each other. Let's just stop this."

"What? No! Okay, you want more couple things, right? Let's do them! Kiss me!" Touka exclaimed, closing her eyes.

"..I can't. I don't have feelings for you."

She rolled her eyes at his ridiculousness and pulled him to her by his collar. Their lips collided and the male's cheeks warmed at the sensation of her soft lips against his. Meanwhile, Touka's head was swirling with so many thoughts but the main one was on how good this kiss was—for her first. Releasing him, the two separated, never losing the eye contact and let out pants to gather their breaths. Kaneki stared at her lips and couldn't forget the softness and the sweetness. He wanted more, he wanted to taste her again and he did.

"See? That wasn't so bad, right—" She was interrupted as his hands wrapped around her waist and he leaned in to press his lips to hers again. Her breath hitched when he sucked her lips and seemed to move closer to her even though they barely had any more space between them. Hesitant at first, she slowly moved to rest her hands on his chest as he tilted his head to the other side and captured her lips in another searing kiss. Every kiss they shared left their hearts beating wildly and they didn't want to stop kissing one another because it felt so good. But they had to since they were getting breathless.

As ridiculous as it was to fall in love with her over a kiss, Kaneki decided to take that chance—falling in love again and he will make sure it'll work this time.

"Let's properly date."

—

They started off with going on dates first, since it seemed that this was Touka's first relationship, he wanted to make sure everything was perfect yet not too rushed. She told him she liked rabbits, so he brought her to a rabbit cafe, to which she responded by squealing in delight when she saw them. Seeing how happy she was when playing with the rabbits, his heart swelled and the romantic feelings that he'd shut out were starting to resurface. She said she wanted to see a movie, so he brought her to see a comedy movie. Her laughter was music to his ears and he couldn't help laughing together with her. He took her everywhere she wanted to go, and by their fifth date, he was completely in love.

Touka has always had a dream man in mind. A guy that was brave, bold, masculine, tough and had either Brad Pitt's or Leonardo DiCaprio's looks. Kaneki has none of those qualities (although she admits that he's kinda handsome) and yet she found herself liking him more every single day. The way he would try so hard to make her happy, how caring he was towards her and how kind a person he was. She never thought she would find happiness with a human, of all creatures and here she was, in love.

On some days when Kaneki has some extra time, they'd go out on dates that consisted of going to the movies, a walk in the park or relaxing in cafes. While on other days where his book deadline is coming up, they would have a home date where they would sit together, listen to calming music and just enjoy each other's company. Let's just say that sometimes during their home dates, they get a little frisky beneath the sheets.

—

Dipping her feet into the warm water first to check the temperature, Touka let out a sigh of satisfaction when her whole body submerged into the bathtub's water and rested her arms against the edge of the tub. She stared at the white wall in front of her, as her mind drifted somewhere. It's been 8 months since they met—she counted her fingers—they only have 4 months left to be together. This has been always at the back of her mind but did she make the correct decision to date him? Would it be better if she broke up with him now to make their eventual separation a little less painful? But he always looks extremely happy whenever he's with her and she can't bear to tell him that she has to leave one day.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening and Kaneki appearing in front of her with only a towel wrapping around the bottom half of his body. "Can I join you?" He asked, grinning.

"Sure." Touka shifted front for a bit to make space for him to sit in the tub behind her and he pulled her to rest against his chest. Pressing a kiss to her wet hair, he wrapped his arms around her and smiled. "What were you thinking about? I noticed that every time you take a long bath, it means that something is on your mind. Do you want to talk about it?"

"..It's not a problem, per se...but, Ken, how would you feel if I went somewhere far away from you?"

"Hmm. It depends on where you are going. I'd probably follow you because I'll be lonely if you're not with me."

"What if I can't bring you with me to that place? What would you do then?"

He frowned and his eyes turned sorrowful. "I would be very sad."

Tears brimmed in her eyes and she blinked them away. "I-is that so? If I had to leave you someday, would you still be with me now?"

"What's with your questions? Are you going somewhere?"

"Answer me, please."

He pondered for a while. "I would still be with you till the very end. I'll cherish every single moment we have left together and will make sure that neither of us regrets it."

More tears came to her eyes.

"Enough about the depressive talk. I have something I want to talk to you about. Could you come to the living room after this? I'll wait for you there." He kissed her cheek before getting out of the tub and putting on a new set of clothes. Touka wiped her tears away, threw on a blue dress and headed to the living room.

Her eyebrow rose when she saw 2 glasses of red wine on the dining table and gasped upon laying eyes on the rose petals on the floor that formed the words: 'will you marry me?'. She was even more surprised when Kaneki walked towards her with a bouquet of roses in his hands, which he passed to her before taking out a ring box from his pocket. He went down on one knee and opened the box to reveal a shiny diamond ring. "Kirishima Touka, you are the light of my world, the sun to my earth and uhh...the coffee to my cup. You complete me and I promise I will make you thousand times happier than now if you agree. Will you marry me?"

Tears spilled from her eyes not because she was so happy, but because she was overcome with sadness from the fact that she couldn't say yes even if she wanted to. She shook her head and passed the bouquet back to him. He took it from her with a confused expression on his face. "I'm sorry. I can't. I'm not ready for marriage and commitment."

So she lied.

Though a little disappointed, Kaneki stood up and hugged her. "It's okay, I'll wait for as long as it takes."

She sobbed into his chest as she continued apologizing and expressing how happy she was that he proposed to her. He fell asleep first that night, with one arm around her waist and face pressed into her hair. The tears wouldn't stop and she could only cover her mouth and hope that he doesn't hear her crying. She wants to marry him, but reality hurts so damned much.

The next morning, Touka received a call from her father from the seashell necklace that she always wore. She quickly ran to the kitchen before the ringtone wakes Kaneki up and answered it. "Hello?"

—

Groggily, Kaneki rolled on his back and opened his eyes. Frowning when he realized that Touka wasn't around, he got up and found her crying in the kitchen. She seemed to be talking to someone and he hid behind the door to listen.

"I love Ken so much, father. Do I have to leave him? Is there any way I can stay in the human world? He can't be left alone, he just can't..." More tears fell down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry to hear that, darling. You have 1 year and your body won't be able to take it if you stayed any longer. Cherish the time you have left with the boy."

She sniffed. "I know... thank you."

She hung up and turned to see Kaneki standing there with a hurt expression on his face. Touka's face paled at the thought of him having heard everything. "I-i can explain—"

"I don't want or need to hear it." He mumbled, turning his back to her and starting walking away.

"Are you just going to run away?!"

As if angered, he turned around and hardened his eyes at her. "Then why didn't you tell me?! Why?! Is it because you pity me? Is it because you didn't want me to commit suicide after you're gone? Or is it because you don't love me as much I love you—" His eyes widened as she slapped him, cheek stinging at the sensation and held a hand there.

"How dare you say all those things?!" She shouted and took a deep breath before standing closer to him and cupped his face. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to hurt you. Ever since we started dating, you always looked so happy whenever we're together. I love you, Ken."

"Did you think that I would be less miserable if you told me later? Or were you planning to just disappear when the time comes? I'm angry because you didn't trust me to tell me any of this. If you told me, I could have done something. We could have done something." His eyes stung and before he knew it, he was crying.

"I'm so sorry, Ken... But there's nothing that can be done."

"There is. I told you earlier, didn't I? That I would still be by your side and cherish the time we have left. That's what we're going to do. We're going to go on more dates, spend more time with each other and make as many memories as we can."

Touka hugged him and buried her face in his chest. "Thank you..."

After using a tissue to wipe their tears away, Kaneki took her hand and guided her back to their bedroom. Opening a drawer, he brought out the same diamond ring he used to propose to her the day before. "I want you to keep this." He said, sliding the ring onto her left-hand finger.

"But I can't. We can't get married so I can't just take something so expensive, Ken."

He took out another box from the drawer and opened it to reveal 2 silver couple rings beneath. Sucking in a breath, he stared into her eyes. "Let's get married, even if it's only for a while. We don't have to register our marriage but we can have a ceremony. I want us to live as husband and wife from now on."

She blinked away her oncoming tears and nodded. "I would love to."

So they had a mini ceremony at their home without any audience, with Kaneki looking handsome in his black tuxedo and Touka looking stunning in her white laced sleeveless wedding dress.

"The groom and bride may now exchange rings." Ken slid the silver ring onto her finger, while Touka slid the same ring onto his finger.

"You may now kiss."

Their lips met in a searing kiss, which both didn't want to end as they took it to bed and made gentle love all night long.

\--

For the remaining 4 months, the married couple went everywhere they could think of, living each day to the fullest. The days passed by so fast that it was already the final day. Biting his lip to stop himself from crying, Kaneki turned around in bed and wrapped his arms around his wife's waist with a smile. "Morning. What do you want to do today?"

Touka smiled as she moved to caress his cheek. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm okay with anything really. If you want to go anywhere, just tell me—" His tears betrayed him and fell down his cheeks. She frowned, wiping them away and laid their foreheads together as he apologized and sniffed. "Don't be like this... let's spend our last day together the best we can, okay?"

He nodded, burying his face in her chest.

—

The married couple lingered in bed for the longest time ever, sharing countless kisses and caressing each other endlessly before their little makeout session turned into making love. They laid there for a solid 10-minute in each other's arms, listening to the soothing sound of their heartbeats before deciding to get up and to the bathroom to wash up. Even in there, they were inseparable, standing side by side as they brushed their teeth, washed their faces and combed their hair. After exiting, their fingers intertwined as they made their way to the kitchen, where they cooked breakfast together. Settling down at the dining table, they fed each other food and washed the dishes together.

They then got changed, with Touka teasing Kaneki that he gained a little bit of weight around his stomach area and as payback, he stole her shirt to prevent her from putting it on. The couple ran around the house, with her chasing after the shirt he held up in the air before they ended up back in the bedroom, crashing onto the bed and sharing another gentle kiss. He had his arms on both sides of her head while she had hers around his neck. Running one of his hands up her stomach, she giggled as his fingers drummed on her rib cage and before they knew it, they were playing a 'whoever laughs first, loses' tickling game.

The game ended with Kaneki being the loser and as punishment, he was ordered to take her out on a date and have good food. So he brought her to an expensive restaurant, which he had booked few months prior, where they had a bird's eye view of the whole city from the 70th floor while enjoying some delicious Japanese cuisine.

Cleaning his mouth with a napkin, he placed it down and held Touka's hand. "Where do you want to go now, my Queen?"

She laughed. "Oh so last time I was a princess and now I'm queen?"

"You're my Queen for today." Although he was grinning, his eyes displayed so much sorrow that she almost wanted to cry when she met them. But she promised herself that she wouldn't cry even till the end, so she smiled. "Then... I want to go buy something. A matching pair of keychains for us."

He squeezed her hand. "Okay."

—

The couple went to the mall, visiting various souvenir shops until after 4 hours, they finally found a perfect matching silver bear keychain which looked like this. The left one belonged to Touka, while the right one was Kaneki's.

Kaneki hung the keychain on his sling bag while Touka held onto it because she didn't have anything to hang it on  
Kaneki hung the keychain on his sling bag while Touka held onto it because she didn't have anything to hang it on. They took a seat at one of the benches to rest and the male gazed at her. "..Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something on my face?"

"I'm just memorizing your beautiful face as best I can. So I don't forget."

Her eyes watered and she grasped his shirt. "Ken.."

"I love you, Touka. Please remember that."

She nodded and buried her face in his shoulder.

—

It soon came to night and they went to the beach for their last stop of the day. As they walked along the shore with the sea water gently sweeping the sand from beneath their bare feet, they held hands and listened to the sound of waves hitting the shore. After walking for around 15 minutes, Touka stopped and turned around to face him. "Do you still remember the day we met?"

Kaneki's eyes softened as he gazed at her with a smile. "Of course, I would never forget that day. It was the first time I've ever seen someone so beautiful. I haven't told you this, but the first thought I had when I saw you was that you were beautiful. And you still are." He said, squeezing her hand.

Her eyes crinkled from her smile. "You saved me and brought me to your home. I think I fell in love that night when you told me I was beautiful."

"Because no one else has ever said that to you."

"In the sea, I was known for being very rough and like a boy. Every male was afraid of me. You were the only who wasn't and called me beautiful. I could tell you weren't lying because your face really showed it all. A face full of admiration and wonder."

He took both her hands into his and stared straight into her blue eyes. "You may not realize this, but you're very feminine, Touka-chan. I remember those times you would clean up my room, help me fold my clothes, sew broken things and many more. Sure, you were a little rough sometimes—" he let out an 'ouch' jokingly when she punched him on his chest and continued, "but to me, you were and are still a proper lady."

She blushed at his words and leaned up to press her lips to his, which he returned. "When we got married, we had many unspoken promises but only 1 was properly talked about right? We were to never forget about each other even when we're separated."

"..yes?" Kaneki didn't know what she was getting at.

"And you know that I'm a mermaid and we have powers, right?"

"Yeah."

Touka seemed hesitant in saying this and sucked in a breath. "I'm going to break that promise and erase your every memory with me in it. Don't worry, it won't hurt and it'll only take one minute." She turned her head away to avoid seeing his expression and raised her hand but he grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"Why? Touka, I didn't marry you or spend time with you this whole time only to have it erased. I did it because I wanted to remember you, to etch everything into memory and now you're saying you want to take them away from me? You're too cruel..." Tears slipped down his cheeks and he fought to keep more from falling.

She felt miserable and wanted to cry. "You'll only be hurt if you remember me. I just...don't want you to suffer after I leave."

"I refuse to forget about you, Touka. It will hurt but I don't want to forget you. You can change the promises to anything but this."

"Ken—" His arms circled her and he buried his crying face into her shoulder. "Don't leave... I don't know what I'm supposed to do without you..."

Touka broke her promise to herself and cried into his chest and they sobbed together until she hesitantly pulled away from him. She moved to cup his cheeks and stared into those grey eyes that she loved so much. He's seen them so sorrowful on so many occasions but after they started dating, his eyes didn't display any of them. It's ironic that even though she was the one who gave him the most happiness, she was also the one who gave him the most sadness. They shared a kiss again, it lasting longer than the one earlier and she took this time to engrave in her mind the softness of his lips, the comforting yet strong arms he had around her and how he smelt like.

"I..want to say something." With her paying full attention, Kaneki continued, "thank you for coming into my life, for finding me here that day, for dating me. You may not know this but ever since then, I've never even had a single thought about trying to kill myself because that was how happy I was with you and I didn't want to leave you. Ever since my mother passed away when I was 16, I've dreaded every day and wanted to die but you changed me, for the better. I wasn't as gloomy or lonely as I was before, I talked more and I experienced true love with you. You did all of that within a span of a year and stole my heart. I love you, Touka and I hope that you'll never forget how much of an impact you had on me and my life."

Her eyes started to water again from his touching speech. "To be honest, though I was excited about coming to land, I was very scared because it was my first time and the only things that I heard about humans were them being very mean, bad and littering the ocean. But I'm glad to have met you, Ken. You gave me a home, love, and happiness. I was afraid that you'd hate or leave me if I told you I had to leave after a year but when you said that you'd stay with me till the end, I was so happy. Thank you for marrying me, it was always a dream of mine. The days where I spent with you in the human world were my happiest and I don't regret a single thing. Thank you for everything. I love you too, Ken."

The couple gazed at each other with a smile before they heard a bell ringing and she knew time was up. "Will you promise me something?"

"Anything."

"Don't try to kill yourself after I'm gone."

Kaneki nodded.

"If you're sad or angry, talk it out with Nagachika-San."

He nodded again, biting his lip to stop himself from turning into a crying mess.

"Please move on and marry someone else who loves you as much as I did. Have children with her and leave the rest of your life with your family. I don't want you to be hung up on me after I leave. I want you to be happy like you were with me. You can't live your whole life thinking about me when I'm gone, I can't do such a horrible thing to you. Ken, please promise me that you'll be happy."

Clenching his hands into fists, he couldn't agree to this. "I can't promise you that—"

She looked into his eyes, pleading. "Please."

"..okay."

Touka gave a sad smile. "Even though I said to not be hung up on me, but I hope you can remember me. You don't have to do it every single day but I would be happy if you could, once a year."

Kaneki finally broke down and squeezed her in his arms tightly. "I'll remember you every day, Touka."

She closed her eyes and embraced him as well. "Thank you."

The bell rang again and she separated from him. "One last promise, don't look when I go into the ocean. I don't want you to see me leaving."

She knew that if he watched her go, he'd definitely stop her and make her stay. She also knew that if he did that, she would listen to him and stay with him. That was how much she wanted to be with him. It's not that she wanted to live or anything as she's already lived for the past 500 years but because he'd be heartbroken if she died. At least he would be okay knowing that she's alive somewhere.

Kaneki struggled to promise her that last one because he wanted to be with her till the end. But since it was her wish, he'll do it. "Alright."

She nodded. "Can you turn your back towards me and walk 20 steps?"

"Okay."

He started walking. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10... His body was already shouting at him to just run after her but his promise to her forced him to continue on. Seeing as he decided to keep his promise, Touka smiled and stepped into the ocean until she was waist-deep and turned to stare at her husband's back. The tears in her eyes blurred her vision, making her only able to see his head, the clothes he wore and his legs but she decided that it was good enough. She had months to memorize every single detail about him after all. His black hair, wide forehead, a pair of grey eyes, small ears, slim nose and lips, and his triangle faced shape.

She could still remember their first time making love, how he touched her so gently yet hesitantly and she craved that, even now. No one had ever treated her so kindly and delicately like she was a piece of glass. Ken was the only one. The bell rang again, signaling that time was running out and snapped her out of her thoughts. She turned to face the ocean again and continued walking. Her tears streamed down her cheeks endlessly. I love you, Ken and I'll always do. Goodbye.

11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.

His tears fell down his cheeks because he knew at this 20th step, Touka would have already gone. But he spun around anyway, hoping that she would still be there smiling at him like she usually did. But an empty beach was all he saw. One step, two step and he's running towards the ocean and jumped in. His hands searched around in the water as he looked everywhere for her and the only thing he could feel was the freezing cold water, the slimy seaweed, and the rough sand. She was gone. He clenched the area over his heart, raised his head to the clear night sky and let out an agonized scream with tears falling down his cheeks.

—

On this day, she left his life forever.

—

The book Kaneki released about a beautiful mermaid falling in love with a human male became so popular that within a month, he became the best selling author in Tokyo. He then got married to a wonderful woman 10 years later, had 3 children with her and lived a happy life. But he never forgot about Touka, not even for a single day.

—

Now at the age of 83, he was bedridden and dying. He had lung cancer at its final stage and there was no cure. But he wasn't scared because he knew he would get to see Touka after the suffering. Surrounded by his dearest family and friends, Kaneki Ken passed away with a smile on his face, happy that the last thing he saw before he passed was Touka holding her hand out to him with a grin.

He did love his current wife but Touka was his first love. Till the end, he never forgot about her even and wanted to be with her even in death. He had instructed for his ashes to be spread in the same ocean where he separated from her. He hoped that by doing that, he would be reincarnated into a merman and meet Touka again. And he did.

—

When he was reincarnated into a merman, he had retained the memories of his previous life. The woman he loved dearly was Touka and he had to find her again.

Staring down at the bear keychain, a tear escaped Touka's eye as her thoughts wandered to Kaneki. Was he well? Was he living a good life? Does he think about her every day? Or is he already dead and in a better place? Whatever it was, she can only hope that he isn't too sad from missing her too much.

"Excuse me. May I know where can I find Kirishima Touka?"

Touka turned around and her eyes went wide at the sight of her husband in merman form. The ends of her lips lifted into a smile and tears escaped her eyes. "That's me. Welcome to the ocean, Ken."

Needless to say, they spent the rest of their long lives together this time.

\- EXTRA -

"So..did you keep your promise of marrying someone else? If you did, was she pretty? How many children did you have?" Touka asked as she rested her head on his lap and played with his long black bangs.

"I did. She was pretty. We had 3 children. 2 boys and 1 girl." Kaneki replied, kissing her forehead.

"Heh...Pretty, huh?" She had this expression on her face that he didn't know how to read and decided to add something. "B-But you are prettier than her! You're beautiful actually!"

Touka smiled. "Of course I am. 3 children, huh? Let's have 4."

He can't help but grin when he realized the purpose behind her question. She was jealous. "Okay, my Queen."


End file.
